“Falling out of love is like losing weight. It’s a lot easier putting it on than taking it off.”
“Who hasn’t had a weight issue? If not the body, certainly the big head!”
“Sometimes, what you’re looking for is already there.”
“I know people I feel are extremely talented, but I don’t know that I’ve ever heard any geniuses.”
“I am doing what I love to do, and you cannot beat that, especially when the audience appreciates what you prepare for them. It’s very, very gratifying.”
“I think the hardest thing is losing weight. That’s the hardest thing more than anything else.”
“Be your own artist, and always be confident in what youre doing. If youre not going to be confident, you might as well not be doing it.”
“ I paid my dues; I certainly did.”
“My faith always has been and always will be important to me.”
“As a parent you try to maintain a certain amount of control and so you have this tug-of-war … You have to learn when to let go. And that’s not easy.”
“I think women and children and older people are the three least-respected groups in our society.”
“I don’t feel one’s personal medical condition is everybody’s business. It just isn’t something you advertise, and it’s not open to discussion.”
“The man who gets me is getting one hell of a woman.”
“Music does a lot of things for a lot of people. It’s transporting, for sure. It can take you right back, years back, to the very moment certain things happened in your life. It’s uplifting, it’s encouraging, it’s strengthening.”
“I sing to the realists; people who accept it like it is.”
“Don’t say Aretha is making a comeback, because I’ve never been away!”
“Trying to grow up is hurting. You make mistakes. You try to learn from them, and when you don’t, it hurts even more.”
“Every birthday is a gift. Every day is a gift.”
“People really don’t have to give you anything, so appreciate what people give you.”
“It really is an honor if I can be inspirational to a younger singer or person. It means I’ve done my job.”
“It’s very satisfying. To perform the way you want to. And the way you know that you can.”
“You cannot define a person on just one thing. You can’t just forget all these wonderful and good things that a person has done because one thing didn’t come off the way you thought it should come off.”
“Women have broken through the glass ceiling, and they’re now more and more in the power seats.”
“I’ve never recorded anything I didn’t like.”
“Music changes, and I’m gonna change right along with it.”
“I’m never tired of going to the studio. I enjoy recording and documenting everything and trying new things.”
“If you disrespect everybody that you run into, how in the world do you think everybody’s supposed to respect you?”
“ We all require and want respect, man or woman, black or white. It’s our basic human right.”
“I’m the lady next door when I’m not on stage.”
